Covering for seats having a hinged back



Dec. 28, 1965 E. J. REINFELDT ETAL 3,226,157

COVERING FOR SEATS HAVING A HINGED BACK Filed April 30, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 \NVEN'TORS EDWARD J.R\NFE\ b-r ARTHUR O. RADK ATTORNEY Dec. 28, 1965 E. J. REINFELDT ET AL 3,226,157

COVERING FOR SEATS HAVING A HINGED BACK Filed April 30, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS EDWARD J. REmFELbT AR H R Rawsa Dec. 28, 1965 E. J. REINFELDT ETAL 3,226,157

COVERING FOR SEATS HAVING A HINGED BACK Filed. April 30, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet :5

\PWENTORS EDWARD J. Ram-sun ARTH R RADKE ATTQRNEY Dec. 28, 1965 E. J. REINFELDT ET AL 3,226,157

COVERING FOR SEATS HAVING A HINGED BACK Filed April 30, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

PFC-J. \O

\NVENTORS EDWARD J- QEJNFELDT ART UR O. RADKE ATTORHEY United States Patent 3,226,157 COVERING FOR SEATS HAVING A HINGED BACK Edward J. Reinfeldt, Brookfield, and Arthur 0. Radke,

Wauwatosa, Wis., assignors to Bostrom Corporation,

Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Apr. 30, 1964, Ser. No. 363,747 6 Claims. (Cl. 297-219) This invention pertains to improvements in covers for seats of the type having a back member pivotally secured to the seat member to thereby render the inclination of the back member adjustable and/ or to permit sufficient forward tilting of the back member to gain access to storage or passenger area in the back of the seat.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a cover for this type of seats which cover will completely enclose the hinge assembly between the seat and back members regardless of the position of the back member.

In many of todays seats of this type the hinge pin or another part of the hinge assembly is exposed to view, and therefore requires more expensive fabrication and finishing than would be the case if the entire assembly were enclosed by the covering of the seat. The difficulty in providing a cover for the back and the seat members as well as for the hinge assembly lies in the fact that the total exposed back surface of the seat increases as the back member is tilted forwardly and decreases as it is tilted backwardly. It is believed that for this reason the majority of todays economically designed seats provide separate covers for the back seat members and leave at least a part of the hinge assembly exposedto view.

The cover embodying the present invention is comprised of two separate sections, a back cover section and a seat cover section, each section being provided with a pair of extended boots which are adapted to enclose the hinge connection between the two seat members and which are in telescopic engagement with the corresponding boots of the other cover section to thereby permit the required variance in the exposure of the seats back surface without causing exposure of the hinge assembly. At least one of the pair of corresponding boots is provided with means which retains the boot in an extended position yet causes the boot to bend with the back member to thereby avoid wrinkling of the boot portions as they are moved in respect to each other during movement of the seats back member.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparent from, the specification and claims, as will obvious modifications of the single embodiment shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the seat having a back member pivotally mounted on the seat member and being provided with a cover embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side plan view of the seat shown in FIG. 1 (without cover) and showing the seat and back member frames in broken lines;

FIG. 3 is a side plan view of the seat and its cover shown in FIG. 1 with the back member being shown in a generally upright position;

FIG. 4 is a side plan view of the seat shown in FIG. 3 with the back member shown in its forward tilted position;

FIG. 5 is a side cross sectional view of the seat shown in FIG. 1 with the covering and the frames being deleted for the sake of simplicity;

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of the back cover section;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the seat cover section;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the seat cover section when assembled;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the seat and back cover section assemblies;

FIG. 10 shows the components of the seat cover section; and

FIG. 11 shows the components of the back cover section.

Referring to the drawings in detail FIGS. 1 through 5 are illustrative of the type of seat for which a cover embodying the present invention is intended. The seat shown in FIG. 1 is comprised of a seat member 10 and a back member 12 which are connected by a hinge assembly 14 which permits limited forward tilting of the back member from the position shovm in FIG. 3 to that in FIG. 4. The back and seat members are comprised of frames 16 and 18 respectively which are fully enclosed in polyurethane foam seat and back cushions 20 and 22 which have been molded around the frames. The frames may carry springs (not shown) which also are molded in the cushions and which aid to give a greater resiliency to the same. As shown in FIG. 5 the seat and back cushions may be connected by foam portions 24 which are integral with the cushions and enclose the hinge assembly. The foam portions 24 correspond to the downwardly extending legs of the back member generally indicated at 26 in FIG. 1.

The illustrated seat is of the bucket type wherein the back and seat members each are provided with bolster sections 28 and 30 on the sides of the back and seat members respectively.

The construction of the seat cover section 32 can best be appreciated when referring to FIGS. 710. The seat cover section is comprised of a seat portion 34 which covers the central part of the seat member (the ribbed design of the seat portion being deleted in FIG. 7 for the sake of simplicity), bolster portions 36 adapted to cover the inside face of the bolsters 30, side boxing portions 38, a rear portion 40, and two straps 42. The bolster portions are sewn at seams 43 to the seat portion and at seams 44 to the boxing portions. The bolster portions are also provided with flaps 46 generally bent at a right angle to scam 43 and sewn to back portion 40 at seam 48. An upwardly extending resilient stiffening member 51 is secured to the flap and to the ends of the back portion 40 by either staples, adhesives, or other suitable means. Straps 42 are bent to form a boot 50 as shown in FIG. 7 and are sewn at seam 52 to the boxing portions and at seam 54 to the bolster portions and their flaps. The boots as well as flaps 57 of the boxing portion are secured to the stiffening members 51 by any of the means indicated. A cover portion (not shown) may be provided to cover part or all of the seats bottom. In such cases it would be sewn to the lower edges of the bolster, boxing, seat and back portions and would function to retain the cover section on the seat cushion. It is also of note that the stiffening members are tapered at their lower ends to thereby render the back corners 59 of the seat relatively soft.

The construction of the back cover section 58 will best be appreciated when referring to FIGS. 6 and 11. The back cover section is comprised of a central section 60, bolster sections 62, side boxing sections 64, and rear section 66. The bolster sections are sewn to the central section at seam 68 and to the boxing sections at seam 70. They are provided with flaps 72 which are bent outwardly as shown in FIG. 6 and are fixed by either staples, adhesives, or other suitable means to the leg portions 74 of the back portion 66. The back portion is sewn to the boxing section and to the main back section at seam 76.

The significance of the boot construction can best be appreciated by comparing FIGS. 3 and 4. Each hinge assembly is surrounded by the boot 50 of the seat cover section 32 and a boot 77 of the back cover section 58.

The boot 77 is formed by fiaps 72, leg portions 74 and the bottom portions of sections 62 and 64. As the back member is tilted forwardly boots 77 slide upwardly, and because of the stiffness of the material, the back portions of the boots tend to move away from the seat structure. The boots 50, because of stiffening members 51, adhere to and bend with the back member. As the back member is tilted back to its generally upward position the back portions of boots 77 move downwardly as well as towards the seat, and boots 50, of course, assume their upright position. The stiffening members 51 prevent the boots 50 from moving away from the back member and from portions 24 as well as prevent any wrinkling of boots 50 as the back member is tilted from its forward to its upright position. In absence of stiffening members 51 the sliding action between the boots 50 and 70 would cause boots 50 to slide downwardly and to become wrinkled.

Although but a single embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A cover for a seat of the type having a back member pivotally secured to a seat member by a hinge assembly thereby rendering the inclination of the back member variable between a generally upstanding position and a forward position, comprising; a seat cover section adapted to enclose the seat member, a back cover section adapted to enclose the back member, said seat cover section having upwardly extending boot means enclosing the hinge assembly, said back cover section having downwardly extending boot means also enclosing the hinge assembly and being in telescopic engagement with said first mentioned boot means.

2. A cover for a seat of the type having a back member pivotally secured to a seat member by a hinge assembly thereby rendering the inclination of the back member variable between a generally upstanding position and a forward position, comprising; a seat cover section adapted to enclose the seat member and having upstanding boot means enclosing the hinge assembly, holding means fixed to said boot means to maintain said boot means in said upstanding position, a back cover section adapted to enclose the back member and having downwardly extending boot means which extend over and telescopically engage said boot means of said seat cover section.

3. A cover according to claim 2 wherein said holding means comprise a flexible stiffening member fixed to the back side of said seat cover section boot means.

4. A cover according to claim 3 wherein said seat cover section boot means are comprised of a strip of material formed into an upstanding generally cylindrical form fixed at its lower end to said seat cover section.

5. A cover for a seat of the type having a back member pivotally secured to a seat member by hinge assemblies provided on each side of the members and forming legs of the back member, comprising; a seat cover section adapted to enclose the seat member and having two upstanding generally cylindrical boots enclosing the legs of the back member, resilient stiffening members fixed to the back sides of said boots and being operative to bend with the back member as it is pivoted in respect to the seat member and to retain said boots in said upstanding position, and a back cover section adapted to enclose the back member and having two downwardly extending boots overlying and in slidable telescopic engagement with said seat section boots.

6. A cover according to claim 5 wherein said stiffening members are of greater height than said seat cover boots.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,619,556 1/1927 Aaron 297-218 1,703,969 3/1929 Syvrud 297378 1,820,104 8/1931 Whaley 5354 1,840,995 1/1932 Wishmeier 5354 2,060,449 11/1936 Singer 297-218 2,575,548 11/195 1 .Carter 297219 3,088,773 5/ 1963 Horroks 297-445 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,001,880 10/1951 France. 1,080,422 4/ 1960 Germany.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

1. A COVER FOR A SEAT OF THE TYPE HAVING A BACK MEMBER PIVOTALLY SECURED TO A SEAT MEMBER BY A HINGE ASSEMBLY THEREBY RENDERING THE INCLINATION OF THE BACK MEMBER VARIABLE BETWEEN A GENERALLY UPSTANDING POSITION AND A FORWARD POSITION, COMPRISING; A SEAT COVER SECTION ADAPTED TO ENCLOSE THE SEAT MEMBER, A BACK COVER SECTION ADAPTED TO ENCLOSE THE BACK MEMBER, SAID SEAT COVER SECTION HAVING UPWARDLY EXTENDING BOOT MEANS ENCLOSING THE HINGE ASSEMBLY, SAID BACK COVER SECTION HAVING DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING BOOT MEANS ALSO ENCLOSING THE HINGE ASSEMBLY AND BEING IN TELESCOPIC ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FIRST MENTIONED BOOT MEANS. 